1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a bunting or infant covering. More specifically, the present invention provides a bunting which is adaptable so that it can be easily installed in numerous infant carrying devices, where the bunting has advantageous features which make it safer to use, and where the bunting can be removed from the infant carrier with the infant still inside, thereby protecting the infant from the elements with minimal exposure, and finally, can be opened flat to use as a blanket.
2. The State of the Art
State of the art baby buntings are generally desired to try and protect an infant from exposure to the elements. To accomplish this, the buntings are supposed to wrap around an infant to thereby form a covering which keeps the infant warm and dry. However, when the buntings are used in conjunction with infant carriers, a new set of problems present themselves. It is desirable to be able to have the infant inside the bunting, but for the bunting not to interfere with securing the infant inside it to the infant carrier. Unfortunately, existing buntings are not easily attached to or removed from infant carriers when the infant is already inside. In other words, some buntings require that they be attached to the infant carrier without the baby inside, thus eliminating most of the advantages of using the bunting. Alternatively they require the shoulder harness to fit over the bunting with the infant inside, thus providing a less secure means of fastening an infant in its carrier.
A brief and more specific summary of the state of the art in baby buntings is useful to understand the specific drawbacks and shortcomings which the present invention overcomes. Beginning with U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,090 issued to Ranalli (the '090 patent), the bunting is nothing more than an unshaped blanket which is placed into an infant carrier. Slits at shoulder height and at the crotch permit a shoulder harness to pass through the bunting and over the infant. The bunting is then simply folded around the infant without means of more securely closing and preventing the infant from wiggling out from underneath the bunting. Another particularly disadvantageous feature is that the infant can not be in the bunting when it is placed in the infant carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,724 issued to Barnes (the '724 patent) provided some improvements over the '090 patent in that means were provided for securing the bunting around the infant. The securing means was typically a VELCRO strip. Furthermore, in place of slits through the bunting for a shoulder harness to fit through, the shoulder harness fit around the outside of the bunting, and through two slits in the bunting at the crotch. Disadvantageously, however, the bunting is simply a square piece of fabric. Consequently, when the bunting is folded over the infant and secured, the upper torso of the infant is not covered, leaving the infant exposed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,095 issued to Schneider (the '095 patent) teaches a shaped bunting with a detachable hood. Unfortunately, the bunting also includes the slits where a shoulder harness is passed and secured between the infant's legs, thus requiring the infant to be removed from the bunting when it is secured to the infant carrier. The bunting is also split at the bottom half to enable the shoulder harness to be attached at the crotch, and the bunting is folded up around the infant's legs.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,458 issued to Lesesne (the '458 patent) teaches a bunting which is disadvantageously attached to an infant carrier device via slits through the back of the bunting. These slits permit straps from the infant carrier to pass through the bunting and to be secured around the infant and to a crotch attachment while the bunting is open. The bunting is then zipped closed. Unfortunately, drawstrings at the top and bottom of the bunting used to close the ends thereof are left free. The top drawstrings can be pulled into the infant's mouth, thereby posing a choking hazard.
Accordingly, it would be an advantage over the state of the art to provide a baby bunting by which an infant can be transported to and from an infant carrier (car seat, stroller, etc.). The bunting should enable a shoulder harness to secure the infant within the infant carrier without having to remove the infant from the bunting. The shoulder harness should fit snugly against the infant's clothing instead of the bunting so that the infant is more securely held within the infant carrier. The bunting should require minimal exposure of the infant to the elements when fastening the shoulder harness around the infant. The bunting should have an integral hood which can be drawn to snugly fit around the infant's face, but the mechanism for drawing the hood should not be accessible to the infant. The bunting should also lay out flat when not in the infant carrier so that it can be used as a blanket.